Things really went downhill for Isaiah after his career ended in 2001. The low point came in 2006, when he was busted for kidnapping after pulling a female friend into his car against her will in Marin County, California, then driving erratically with his car door open, the woman screaming as he held her down. A subsequent court order prevented Rider from again appearing in that county, but he was spotted there anyway a few weeks later and ended up in a car chase that resulted in a semi-serious accident. Subsequent charges involved cocaine possession, battery, and evading police.
Most recently, Rider was picked up this past week in the Skid Row section of Los Angeles by police who noticed he was driving a stolen car through a red light at 2:30 am, a Sonny Liston–esque personal denouement if there ever was one. At last report, he was being held in LA County jail on $25,000 bail.
Out of mercy we should just leave poor old Rider off the board entirely. Not many jocks go so far that we can’t even pick on them anymore. It’s rare air, with maybe only Darryl Strawberry, Mike Tyson, and Lawrence Phillips. J.R. is there and he’s at the head of the table. Something tells me we won’t be hearing from him again for a while.
When he’s not googling “Regarding Henry” and “Easy Rider,” Matt Taibbi writes for Rolling Stone. He can be reached atM_Taibbi@yahoo.com.
2008 LEADER BOARD
JIM LEYRITZ (EX-YANKEES) | DUI manslaughter | 90
JEROME MATHIS (TEXANS) | choking pregnant babymama | 75
FABIAN WASHINGTON (RAIDERS) | red marks on girlfriend’s neck | 70
JAMES HARRISON (STEELERS) | punching girlfriend to facilitate baptism | 60
ANDY CHRISTENSEN (NEBRASKA) | wantonly grabbing unguarded vagina in bar | 55
JEREMY ELDER (ALABAMA) | late-night stickup | 55
CEDRIC WILSON (STEELERS) | punching girlfriend, but not in order to facilitate a baptism | 55
ADAM “PACMAN” JONES (TITANS) | being a menace to peaceful strip-club patrons everywhere | 50
MAURICE SIMMONS (USC) | being the wheelman for a Compton armed mugging | 50
SHAWNE WILLIAMS (PACERS) | harboring an accused first-degree murderer | 50
JOHN STEPHENS (EX-PATRIOTS) | sex-assault fugitive | 48
DAVID CORNACCHIA (FLA. EVERBLADES) | mid-flight assault, head-butting bystanders, exposing wine-shrunken wiener | 46
BRANDON PETTIGREW (OKLAHOMA STATE) | elbowing Stillwater’s finest | 42
RIAR GEER (COLORADO) | randomly assaulting two students, being an asshole | 40
JOSH JARBOE (OKLAHOMA) | bringing totally unnecessary .380 handgun to track meet | 40
LYNN KATOA (COLORADO) | campus assault | 40
JORGE REYES AND JOHN WALLACE (OREGON) | being dumbasses and shooting .22 rounds into a neighbor’s house | 37
CHRIS HENRY (EX-BENGALS) | getting arrested way too many times | 35
SCOTT SPIEZIO (CARDINALS) | flipping a car in the OC, staggering away from the scene, going mental at some random citizen | 31
CHANNING CROWDER (DOLPHINS) | leaving the scene, making good early impression on Bill Parcells | 30
DANIEL GRAHAM (BRONCOS) | ambiguous domestic-violence beef; hit a bedpost | 30
JASON HORTON (MISSOURI) | beating up “kitchen help” | 30
TYRONE NESBY (EX-CLIPPERS) | ginormous child-support debt | 30
DAN ROONEY (STEELERS) | hypocritical defense of girlfriend-punching players, but only the good ones | 30
RICHARD TODD BURGER (EX-JETS) | leg-breaking for Internet gambling site | 28
BRITTON COLQUITT (TENNESSEE) | DUI, hitting a car, hitting tree stump, then walking away from the scene | 28
RYAN O’BYRNE (CANADIENS) | stealing a chick’s purse | 27
XAVIER HICKS (WASHINGTON STATE) | putting rubbing alcohol in roommate’s contact-lens case| 22
DEMARCUS GRANGER (OKLAHOMA) | stealing winter coat — in Arizona; refusing to appear | 21
RANDY NEWSOM (AKRON AEROS) | sold shares in his future earnings in dicey scheme that Ponzi would have admired | 18
GERALD JONES AND AHMAD PAIGE (TENNESSEE) | Cheech and Chong/Up in Smoke impersonation, while in car | 12
SHAUN WHITE (X-TREME SPORTS) | spraying fire extinguisher, acting like the little douchebag he is | 11
MIKHAIL MARINOVICH (SYRACUSE) | breaking into a school equipment room; adding another arrest to the family ledger | 10
DERRICK JONES (OREGON) | operating a less-than-one-ounce “drug house” | 1
KEVIN FAULK (PATRIOTS) | contributing to the cancer-like misery of Patriots fans | 0.5
BRYAN GRIER (MAINE) | weighing 344 pounds and power-carjacking in New Hampshire | INCOMPLETE (pending psych review)
